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| Camel herders |
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| Camel market workers |
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| Siiiiiiiiiiiiiit |
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| Good camels! |
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| Nicole's purchase! |
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| I wouldn't want that in my ear! |
What to say about the camel market….
That somewhere near 4000 camels pass through the market just outside of Cairo every Friday morning to be sold for transport, for draft, for their milk, for their meat. What proportion end up hauling tourists like me around the pyramids or are slaughtered for food, I don’t really know.
I want to know more. What I have heard is that these camels mostly come from Somalia, Ethiopia and Sudan and make the long trek on foot and by truck to come to Cairo to be sold. They are the quintessential beast of burden - swatted with sugar cane sticks to submission. They wouldn’t dare spit – they know better.
Most of the camels have a leg tied up to keep them from running away, or kicking. But not all of them are hobbled and we caught one on video kicking a herder/handler in the groin. I can’t help but think he deserved it. Maybe not him personally, but “him” in general in the sense that throughout the ages more has been brought upon the poor camel than upon most anything else – except maybe the donkey. We gave him (the camel) a big thumbs up after that one.
I heard a story that once a camel spit so much rumen contents into someone’s ear that they had to have the debris surgically removed. Okay… so I might bring along my shower cap and ear plugs when I have to work with them, but I am not deterred.
I might be in the minority … but I find them soft, sweet, noble, and worthy. I want to believe they like me too.
Holy Camel! Do you realize how other worldly your photos are? Fantastic.
ReplyDeleteI want to rescue them all. Do you think our backyard is large enough?
...hey, that's what you and Paul should do at the end of 345 days... start a camel rescue! Sign me up as your first volunteer.
~Jen
What are you and the camel doing?
ReplyDelete-Ruby
Just awesome...I too am intrigued. Are they branded on their necks? Trying to figure out if that is permanent or not. Until these photos, I had never thought about body condition scoring camels, but I found myself doing that! They are such amazing creatures. Does the paint on their backs/humps mean anything? I think you should offer to do the 'sale barn' work on the camels before they are sold. That way you could personally meet them all and thank them for all they do for people. That was a lovely last photo...a kiss from a camel. I know you are missing your hubby, but geesh! :) Wishing you all the best Katie - Bobo
ReplyDeleteHey Jen - I think you should start looking for more space for our camel rescue!
ReplyDeleteRuby - I was bending down looking at the camels legs for ticks and she kissed me. I stood up, then bent down again, and she did it again! I really think she liked me :)
Bobo - BCS - precisely. That is something I want to do with the study we are doing. See if it is related to prevalence of the diseases we are looking for. As the expert in bcs you should come and be a collaborator that way we could both thank them for all they do for people!
Katie
miss you all
ReplyDelete-Ruby
how are all of you
ReplyDelete